Danielle Collins advanced into her second quarterfinal of the season after dominant win against Caty Mcnally in Wednesday's top match of ATX Open's second round.
Collins was an obvious pre-match favorite, but McNally could not be written off from the chances to make an upset there, especially after good semifinal run in last week's Merida Open. The younger of Americans had no chance to take the fight this afternoon though, as "Danimal" showed her great class while dominating whole the match from start to the end, winning it 6-1 6-1. It was a strong statement from Collins, who advanced into quarters as the highest remaining seed in the tournament. Danielle was executing her gameplan flawlessly, striking wonderful winners in perfect timing, overpowering her opponent, who was almost shiftless while having no answer for the impressive performance of the tournament's best star. Collins was looking as fully relived after difficult middle east swing campaign, being pumped up throughout whole the match. She punished the opponent's vulnerabilities while striking powerful returns and taking full initiative during rallies. Even the serving performance, which was Danimal's weakness in recent time, was almost perfect. Collins was not broken any single time during the match, allowing McNally to produce just two breakpoints in second set, clearing the small danger with a style.
Anna Kalinskaya will look forward to take the revenge on Collins for the lose in the thrilling three-setter played between both players in January's first round of Australian Open. The Russian was even faster in terms of the time needed to advance into quarters, while defeating Coco Vandeweghe in just 57 minutes with a score 6-3 6-1. Kalinskaya showed an impressive performance, allowing her opponent to produce just one breakpoint during whole the match. Opening set was decided by just one single break gained in 6th game, but second one was a fabulous display of tennis from Kalinskaya who won 6 games in a row, storming through the top quarterfinals clash against Collins.
Two one-sided matches described above where preceeded by two exciting three sets battles, which emerged another quarterfinal pairing in bottom half of ATX Open main draw. Anna Lena Friedsam defeated Erika Andreeva 7-5 6-7(2) 7-6(8) after a thriller ended-up with tense decisive set's tiebreak. It was another tennis marathon played by 18 years-old Russian, who eliminated Harriet Dart in first round after 3:34 hours, also in the 3rd set tiebreak. This time, Andreeva came up short despite having chances in both sets that she lost today. The Russian was serving for the first set with a score 5-4 and had two setpoints while being 40-15 within own serve, but lost 4 points in a row, which took the set to level again. Friedsam gained another break in 12th game and grabbed first set, which was already almost in Andreeva's hand. The world's number 135 managed to force the decider after taking second set by winning tiebreak with a score 7-2.
Andreeva was looking as the better player at this time, playing well in third set as well, being 5-2 up with a break. The youngster was close to finish the match, while serving with a score 5-3 and being 30-15 up, but Friedsam came back again by gaining a break from that. Decisive tiebreak was an absolute rollercoaster with frequent momentum switches on both sides. Friedsam was first to produce matchpoints, but blew away three chances, giving the one to Andreeva, who was serving while being 8-7 up. The German won three points in a row since then, tipping the scales of this thriller in its favour.
Marta Kostyuk defeated Madison Brengle 6-3 3-6 6-0 in another three-setter, which was much shorter than the clash between Friedsam and Andreeva - both ladies spent just 1:45 h on the court. Kostyuk noted the slow start, being broken by Brengle in first game, but dominated the rest of opening set, taking it 6-3. The experienced American did not give up after this, turning out to be better in second set with the same score on her favor. Kostyuk, seeded with #8 and being quite confident pre-match favorite, has not disappointed in decisive set, making it a quick task while taking all the 6 games in just 25 minutes.
